Les Bohèmes
by clonedmemories
Summary: A snapshot of a moment. Eight drabbles, giving a glimpse into the life of each of the bohemians.
1. The Filmmaker

Images flicker erratically before the filmmaker's eyes. He studies each piece of footage, casting his caustic eye over sequences of his friends, of the people he knows and loves.

He knows he must make some serious decisions. Since they used the last screenplay for last night's fire, this might be his one last chance to make something of himself.

The ex, the roomie, the ex-roomie, the landlord, the friends, all their faces, their happy, smiling faces, each one a mask, hiding some secret, some hidden depth that the camera cannot penetrate.

The filmmaker runs his hand through his hair, thinking.


	2. The Songwriter

The songwriter's hands pick their way around the obstacle course of guitar strings. Combinations of chords; a D major, an A minor falling onto a F-sharp major.

He whispers curses to a wrong note under his breath then claps his hands together, feeling the dull sting of unnaturally cold flesh that he is all too used to.

His breath forms a delicate haze that hangs, crystalline, in the air. Every time he opens his mouth to release a word, the note appears to shiver.

He knows he should wrap up more, but won't.

You can't play the guitar wearing gloves.


	3. The Dancer

Everyone is cheering for the dancer. The dancer will give them what they want, and they know it, if they have enough.

She embraces the hands feeling her, thrusting money towards her and trying to get it to where she stores it for safekeeping. But she has more dignity than that. She stops them before they can get far enough.

The sea of nameless, identical faces shout instructions to her. She ignores the demands for her to expose herself but turns, falls to the ground, prowls to them, anything she knows will keep them happy.

Yet only one man is on her mind.


	4. The Performance Artist

The performance artist has a message.

All she needs to do is to find the best way to convey it.

Interpretive dance? She dismisses that one with a flick of her wrist and a strike of her pen.

A song. Maybe she could get Roger to write her a song.

This idea is also rejected quickly. She wants it to be her own work. She wants independence.

But a combination of the three, held together by a witty anecdote stuffed with metaphors?

Now, she thinks, she has an idea.

At least she won't have to get Joanne on stage. That would be desperate.


	5. The Lawyer

The lawyer knows she shouldn't be here. In fact, if it wasn't for Maureen, she knows she wouldn't be here.

And for the fact that she can't seem to get herself a case.

She made the stupid assumption that there would be a need for plenty of public defenders in the poorest part of New York City. But as she idly flicks the pen in and out of her mouth, she knows she could have done so much better for herself.

She wants to get herself out of this dump full of trash, but without leaving her friends behind.

Especially Maureen, now that she was finally hers.


	6. The Street Drummer

The street drummer knows that he is dying. Each beat that passes from his heart and through his fingers is really just a distant echo of the sands of life that are oh-so-slowly running out.

Each day he waits for the small pile of coins to collect at his feet, his rhythms pulsing up the street and reaching out to passers-by. It's not charity to him. It's simply the way he earns his living.

The street drummer knows that he is dying. All that he can do is take each day as it comes, to keep loving and keep smiling.


	7. The Philosophy Professor

The smile plays on the corners of the philosophy professor's mouth. He knows that is goes against everything he has been taught – that people who are staring death in the face can never be happy – but after all that has happened, how can he not be happy?

As he holds the shroud of brown leather close to him, memories of the past months flicker like a candle flame, like one of Mark's films.

One face stands out from them all.

Angel. An Angel of the first degree.

His fingers trace the scar on his temple. The scar that started everything.


	8. The Landlord

The landlord watches his tenants as they live.

But, he observes, they aren't just living; they're creating, they're loving, they're surviving, taking each day as it comes and making the very best of it.

He's forgotten that he used to be one of them once, and he can't help but admire them, their resourcefulness. They use everything to their advantage, even burning the eviction notices that he slips underneath their doors to create slight flickers of heat.

They're all fighters. He may not agree with what they stand for, especially they're against him, but there is no denying their strength.

Everyone believes that the landlord doesn't care, but he does.


End file.
